Noel Wilson remembers his first day at Maheno School, at the end of March, 1935. 

“We lived in Maheno township, and it was only a stone's throw to school.” 

His primer teacher was Miss Doreen Jackson.

“She was a lovely person, I’ll never forget her,” he says.

At the end of 1936, Noel's family shifted from Maheno to Reidston, about “two miles away”, which was "a good hike”, he says. 

His father, who had been a butcher when they lived in Maheno, became a poultry farmer.

“The family didn't have a car, no bikes or anything, but I was lucky because there was a senior girl - she must have been about leaving age - sometimes she would give me a piggyback home, you know, for half a mile or something like that.”

But the long walk to and from school had its advantages as well, Noel says, with two good orchards on the way.

“And if you were lucky to find the owners away, you could have a real good feed!”  

Maheno School is celebrating its 150th anniversary in April, and so far, Noel who turns 95 in March, is the oldest former student on the attendance list.

He thinks the student roll back then was more than 100, but he isn’t sure. There were a lot of sports meets with Herbert and Kakanui Schools, which were “quite competitive affairs”.

“In the Maheno School grounds, there were two, what they called play sheds - one for the girls and one for the boys.

“Along the roof, there was a ladder hanging down from the roof, and that became very competitive, swinging along the length of the shed back again. They don't have that at schools now, I wouldn't think. That was quite good.”

Noel remembers swimming lessons, and being taught how to life save in the Kakanui River, under the iron railway bridge.

“You'd line up and march from the school down to the railway bridge. And for distances, like, to get a certificate for how far you could swim, we used to go to the mill down, and there was a stretch of water there, it would be three or four hundred yards long, and the teachers would walk on the west side of the river to see that nobody put their feet on the bottom and started walking.

“I can remember a few getting caught like that, including myself.”  

In standards five and six (years seven and eight), Noel and his classmates caught the slow train from Palmerston into Ōamaru for manual.

“We used to go to the middle school, which is now the hospital. The boys for woodwork and metalwork. And I think the girls was dressmaking and cooking. 

“We used to catch it a bit after eight o'clock in the morning, and we'd get to town about half nine. And it would leave again about three o'clock and get home at four. It was definitely a slow train.” 

After leaving school at 14, he got a job working on a farm, followed by the limeworks, before becoming a builder. Eventually he ended up working for a stock firm.

He married Joyce, they moved back to Maheno in 1963 and their children - Ross, Fiona, Alison and Janine all went to Maheno School as well.

Noel maintained a connection with the school and was on the committee long enough to see a lot of changes to the curriculum over the years, he says.

One not-so-fond memory that sticks with him of his school days is the dental clinic.

“Oh, they were terrible days. The holes that they used to bore in your teeth. I think they ruined more teeth than they ever made!”

The Maheno School 150th anniversary is being held April 11-13. Past pupils and staff who would like to attend are asked to register through the Maheno School website.

A photo from the Maheno School Centennial celebrations in 1975. Photo: Supplied/Hector Souness via Maheno School/Facebook